1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a dispenser for surgical guidewire.
2. Description of the Related Art
Surgical guidewire is used by a surgeon to pass through arteries of a human body so as to, for example, guiding and locating arterial catheters. Such guidewire often has a J-shaped leading tip so that by manipulating the guidewires it may be routed through desired arteries when an artery junction is reached. The wire is required to be completely sterile and it is normally delivered to a surgical operating theatre in a polyethylene tube which is coiled and the coils clipped together by polyethylene clips. The wire having the J-shaped tip protrudes from the outer coil of the polyethylene tube and a section of the wire between the J-shaped tip and the wire within the tube is threaded inside a tubular member which is used to straighten the J-shaped tip of the guidewire to enable the wire to be initially inserted into an artery.
The opposite end of the tube from the end through which the J-shaped tip protrudes, i.e. the inside coiled end of the tube, is provided with a connector such as that known as a luer for receiving a sterilising solution such as that known under the trade name of HEPERIN, which also serves to lubricate the wire to facilitate travel in an artery. Usually, surgeons connect a syringe to the connector and infuse the sterilising solution through the length of the tube.
It is normal for the dispenser to be supplied by the manufacturer to a surgeon in a sterilised, medical peel pouch. It will be appreciated that the length of the tube is dependent upon the size of the length of wire inserted therein.
Such a known method of manufacturing the guidewire dispenser is extremely labour-intensive requiring the polyethylene tube to be coiled and clipped together using injection-moulded clips and the moulded luer connector to be connected into the internal end of the coiled tube. The guidewire is then inserted into the assembled dispenser. Such a dispenser is usually produced and stocked for different length and diameter guidewire and because of the many variants it is costly to produce. Moreover the dispenser may be distorted due to misuse.
The present invention invention seeks to at least partially mitigate the foregoing disadvantages.